"Haruka-sempai is so beautiful when he swims. Ne, Makoto-sempai?"
Rei's comment to Makoto during swim practice that day was unnecessary. In fact, Makoto would go so far as to say it was a massive understatement. However, he nodded his assent, with a genial 'Un!'.
To him, Haru was always beautiful, whether he was swimming, cooking mackerel, scowling or smiling. Makoto had always admired Haru ever since they were kids. He'd always had the sense that Haru was special to him; that his sleek dark hair and glowing blue eyes were something that attracted him on some fundamental level. He recalled once or twice telling Haru so when they were younger, but Makotos' zealous claims of 'You're so pretty, Haru-chan!' had only served to make the introverted boy uncomfortable.
As the both of them had gotten older, Makoto learned to keep these feelings about Haru to himself. They'd evolved over time with the inclusion of factors like puberty, into something that Makoto was sure would make Haru even more uncomfortable, considering that the other boy had only gotten more socially inept. Makoto felt as though puberty had not been kind to him. He'd always been an early-bloomer, towering over the other kids in elementary and developing bodily functions a long time before the other boys in his class began to gossip. The biggest change had definitely shaken him though, one morning when he awoke, not for the first time, to find his sheets wet and his mind once again full of unrelenting, unfathomable blue. From then on at least one thing was clear to Makoto; he was probably gay, and in love with his best friend.
It was a shame that others couldn't see what Makoto saw; when they saw cold aloofness, he saw shyness and embarrassment. He had long suspected that Haru's behaviour was probably bordering on some kind of social-anxiety. However, it appeared that Haru's aesthetic beauty was definitely not lost on other people, especially when he was in water. Once or twice he'd spotted Gou-chan absent-mindedly staring, the metaphorical stars in her eyes swelling up feelings in him that he knew he shouldn't have. He'd always known that Haru probably wouldn't feel the same way; he'd never shown any sign of romantic inclination to anyone and it was a long shot to hope that Haru might possibly turn out to be gay too.
To be honest, neither one of Haru's possible sexual preferences made Makoto happy. He didn't want to imagine anyone else with Haru but himself, so even if Haru didn't openly declare his love for his best friend, Makoto was satisfied with never having heard him do it to anyone else. He knew it wouldn't last; Haru was too attractive and too talented not to catch anyone's attention. He had a sneaking suspicion that Rin was developing those kind of feelings for Haru, but for now, the main thing Makoto was worried about was keeping his own feelings in check and not freaking out his best friend.
So when the rest of his team had already long left the pool and gone home, he waited for his friend to finish as usual, offered him a friendly helping hand as usual, and they set off home together, as they always did.